The invention relates to powering computer systems. In particular, the invention relates to providing a computer system with a reliable power supply for use in environments and applications that place high demands on system reliability, for example in the telecommunications industry.
Deregulation and privatization is causing unprecedented competition in the worldwide telecommunications market. This climate of fierce competition has meant that service providers must introduce new, more sophisticated and user-friendly services at an accelerated pace to retain or attract subscribers, while not compromising traditional telecommunications company (telco) service quality.
These pressures of competition have also placed high demands on Network Equipment Providers (NEPs). Traditionally, NEPs have designed, built and supported proprietary computing equipment, as the strict telco requirements could not be met by the commercial computing sector. Those requirements include the so-called Telcordia Technologies Network Equipment Buildings Systems (NEBS) tests. However, due to the lead times required to design and test such proprietary equipment, and the cost of supporting such equipment, there is a need to find another route, at least for the supply of the more cost and performance sensitive sectors within the telco industry.
A major concern of the telco sector is the reliability of systems. To address this issue, many prior systems, for example for providing the function of a telco server computer, have employed redundant computer systems. In such a redundant computer system, two or more processing sets are provided, typically with each being configured on a separate motherboard and with a mechanism for voting between the processing sets to determine whether one is faulty. Each of the processing sets may include one or more processors. If the voting system determines that one of the processing sets is faulty, then the other one or more processing sets can continue to function. In such systems, other multiple versions of other of the components of the system can be provided. For example, it is known to provide multiple redundant power supply units such that if one of the power supply units fails, the system can continue to function with power from the remaining power supply units.
In order to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of the telco sector, and in order to provide equipment at reasonable cost and within reasonable time scales, it would be desirable to use as many off-the-shelf computer system components as possible, rather than having to design and test each system in its entirety from scratch. For example, it would be desirable to select components designed for the commercial computing sector. However, such equipment is typically not designed with the stringent requirements of the telco industry in mind.
Accordingly, it is an aim of the present invention to address the provision of cost-effective equipment that can meet technical demands of the telco environments, while also meeting the modern commercial demands of that environment.
Particular and preferred aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying independent and dependent claims. Combinations of features from the dependent claims may be combined with features of the independent claims as appropriate and not merely as explicitly set out in the claims.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer system comprising: a chassis; within the chassis a single motherboard supporting at least one processor module, three power supply units and a power sub-system for distributing power within the computer system from the power supply units, wherein each of the three power supply units has a power rating such that two of the three power supply units are sufficient to power the computer system.
By providing a computer system that employs a single motherboard, single-motherboard-type system components from the commercial sector can be used as the basis of a computer system according to the invention. As well as the single motherboard, it will be appreciated that the system can include other, daughter and/or ancillary boards. The combination of such a single main motherboard-based design with a redundant three power supply sub-system in accordance with the invention provides the basis for meeting the stringent telco reliability requirements in a cost effective manner. The use of a power sub-system with three power supply units, where two power supply units are needed to power the system, means that the system can still operate if one of the power supply units fails. As each power supply unit only needs to be of a capacity half of that required to power the computer system, the size and cost of providing a redundant power sub-system can be kept down.
The power sub-system can include a power distribution board with power distribution logic operable to distribute power from the power supply units for powering the processor module, the power distribution circuitry being operable to interrupt power for powering the processor module when two of the power supply units fail or are not present. A plurality of power rails can be provided on the power distribution board to separate power supplies for various system components, thus enhancing noise and signal separation.
The power sub-system can include a sub-frame for receiving the power supply units.
The computer system can comprise a chassis having a front and a rear, with the power sub-system sub-frame being located in the rear of the chassis.
Preferably, there is provided an alarm system for reporting computer system faults. Such faults can include power supply faults. Thus, where a power supply unit fails, a fault can be reported. The alarm system can be connectable to a network for reporting faults to a remote location, for example via a serial link.
Preferably, the motherboard can accept one or more processors, whereby a cost-effective solution to the upgrading of the performance of the system can be achieved.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a power sub-system for a computer system, the power-sub-system comprising a power sub-frame mountable within the computer chassis for receiving three power supply units, wherein each of the power supply units has a power rating such that two of the three power supply units are sufficient to power the computer system, and power distribution logic connectable to the power supply units and operable to distribute power from the power supply units to the computer system, the power distribution logic being operable to interrupt power for powering the processor module when less than two power supply units supply power.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of powering a computer system that includes a chassis with, within the chassis, a single motherboard supporting at least one processor module, the method comprising: installing three power supply units within the chassis of the computer system, wherein each of the three power supply units has a power rating such that two of the three power supply units are sufficient to power the computer system; distributing power from the power supply units within the computer system, such that the computer system is maintained operative as long as two power supply units remain operational.